{"id":126309,"date":"2026-04-25T14:58:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/patriots-coach-mike-vrabel-is-seeking-counseling-and-will-miss-day-3-of-the-nfl-draft-2\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T14:58:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:58:04","slug":"patriots-coach-mike-vrabel-is-seeking-counseling-and-will-miss-day-3-of-the-nfl-draft-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/patriots-coach-mike-vrabel-is-seeking-counseling-and-will-miss-day-3-of-the-nfl-draft-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots coach Mike Vrabel is seeking counseling and will miss Day 3 of the NFL draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"New
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel speaks during an NFL football press conference, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo\/Mark Stockwell)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel is seeking counseling and will not be with the team for Day 3 of the NFL Draft on Saturday, following the publication of photos of the coach and longtime NFL reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I said the other day, I promised my family, this organization and this team that I was going to give them the best version of me that I can possibly give them. In order to do so, I have committed to seeking counseling, starting this weekend,\u201d Vrabel told ESPN on Wednesday night. \u201cThis is something that I have given a lot of thought to and is something I would advise a player to do if I was counseling them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always wanted to lead by example, and I believe this is what I have to do to be the best husband, father and coach that I possibly can be. This is not an easy thing for me to admit, but it is one that I know will make me a better person. I appreciate the support that everyone has given me and promise a stronger resolve as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Patriots confirmed Vrabel will miss the third day of the draft.<\/p>\n

The photos of Vrabel and Russini at a Sedona resort were taken before the annual NFL meetings that began in Phoenix on March 29, according to the New York Post, which published the photos this month.<\/p>\n

The NFL said last weekend that it is not investigating Vrabel\u2019s behavior.<\/p>\n

Vrabel addressed the matter for the first time on Tuesday, telling reporters he\u2019s had \u201c difficult conversations with people I care about.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Vrabel and Russini, who are both married, released written statements to the Post after the publication of the story downplaying what the photos depict. But Russini resigned<\/a> from The Athletic less than a week later, after the Post\u2019s report prompted an internal investigation at The New York Times-owned sports outlet.<\/p>\n

Vrabel said he addressed players about the matter on Monday after they arrived for the start of the voluntary workout program. Two Patriots players were scheduled to be made available to reporters on Tuesday, but Vrabel said he wanted to speak before they did. He also said he didn\u2019t want the interest in the Post photos to take attention away from the NFL draft, which begins Thursday.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/NFL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel speaks during an NFL football press conference, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo\/Mark Stockwell) New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel is seeking counseling and will not be with the team for Day 3 of the NFL Draft on Saturday, following the publication of photos of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6313],"tags":[6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-126309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-2","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126309"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=126309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}